Announcing our 2026 Young Writers’ Contest Winners!

Spencertown Academy Arts Center has proudly offered this competition since 2015. Our goal is to encourage creative writing among students in grades 9-12 (including homeschool) living in Columbia County, NY and Berkshire County, MA. This year’s contest attracted 40 creative individuals, writing in either Fiction or Non-Fiction (personal essay) categories.

Works were judged in an anonymous process by published authors and publishing professionals, who volunteered their services for this contest.

This Year’s Judges Include:

David Cudaback – David is a retired magazine writer and editor.

Emily Arnold McCully – Emily is the author of an O’ Henry Prize story, two adult novels and many children’s books.

Elaine Khosrova – Elaine is the author of Butter, A Rich History, and has worked for various national magazines.

Elizabeth Hess – Elizabeth Hess’s most recent book is Nim Chimpsky: the Chimp Who Would be Human. She writes a substack mostly about dogs called, “The Ballad of Pearl and Spike.”

We really cannot thank them enough for their time and the thought they put into their co-operative decisions. Each category has three prizes – $350, $250 and $200.

Please note: This year in the fiction section, there was a first place winner, a second place winner, and a third place winner. In the non-fiction, there was a tie for first place and a third place winner.

This Year’s Winners

FICTION/SHORT STORY

Final works in the Fiction category were selected by and Emily A. McCully and Elaine Khosrova and Elizabeth Hess

Second Place: Tobi Cantu,
11th Grade, Ichabod Crane High School, Red Dirt Road- An Excerpt

Third Place: Zaid Shircliff
9th Grade, Berkshire Waldorf High School, Salaam

Nonfiction/ Personal Essay or Memoir

Final works in the Nonfiction category were chosen by David Cudaback

First Place Tie

Third Place: Nathalie Fenton
12th Grade, Berkshire School, The Sacrifice